Candler’s Bandy Professor of Preaching Thomas G. Long has received a new accolade for his most recent book.

The Good Funeral: Death, Grief and the Community of Care won the silver award in the religion category at Foreword Reviews’ IndieFab Book of the Year Awards. The honorees were announced June 27 at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Las Vegas.

IndieFab winners were selected by a group of librarians and booksellers from around the country, and exemplify the best work coming from today’s independent authors and publishers.

Co-authored with poet, essayist and undertaker Thomas Lynch, The Good Funeral (Westminster John Knox, 2013) reflects on the Christian treatment of the funeral in the 21st century from angles spiritual, commercial and historical. Long and Lynch alternately discuss several challenges facing “the good funeral,” including the sometimes tense relationship between pastors and funeral directors, the tendency of modern funerals to exclude the body from the service, and the rapid growth in cremation.

Both authors bring their unique viewpoint to the text: Long as a minister and Lynch as an undertaker. Their book collaboration is the most recent of many joint ventures the two have embarked upon for more than a decade, including presentations to funeral directors’ associations around the country, and the 2011 Whiteside Lectures at Candler.

Lynch also served in spring 2013 as the holder of Candler’s Alonzo L. McDonald Family Chair on the Life and Teachings of Jesus and their Impact on Culture. Listen to Lynch’s McDonald Lecture, “The Good Funeral and the Empty Tomb,” on iTunes U.